Southern Living

Here's a sample of life in our new home:  every time we go outside, we meet a new dog.  Think about that.  I'm in a small, let's say infinitesimally small corner of suburban America.  I go outside to walk around with Adara several times a day.  After a week or two in our "old" home, we basically knew all the animals that were out during the day.  But not here.  Two weeks and we've only repeated a dog meeting two times.  (Meaning we met two dogs more than one time each.)

It's incredible!  How many dogs can one place handle?  I wonder what the total dog population is when you leave my immediate neighborhood?

Survey

So to start, I should probably give everyone a little update.  We're pretty much settled into our new place here in North Carolina.  For those of you who didn't know, or don't remember, where we were moving to, and if you're just dying to know, send me an e-mail.  This is a public blog so I don't want to get into too much detail.

I hope to get some pictures and/or videos uploaded soon, but I can't find the cable I need for that.  Hopefully Jon knows where it is, but he's in Cleveland for job training for another day or so.

Now for the fun stuff.  I got a survey awhile back and decided, rather than inflicting useless information on unsuspecting souls, I would post the highlights here.  Anyone who voluntarily visits my blog has no one to blame but themselves if they're afflicted by useless information about me!

Here's the survey:

What is your favorite ice cream?

I like nuts and caramel in my ice cream.  One type is called Moose Tracks.  It has nuts, caramel, and chocolate (I think).  But, like my dad said before me, pretty much all ice cream is good.

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

I used to, but now most of my communication is with a one year old.  I'm afraid of what kinds of disasters would happen if I tried using sarcasm on her.

If you were another person, would you be friends with you?

I'd like to think so.  I think I'm a generous and a forgiving person.  So at the very least, I would try to sympathize with myself and see how I could justify why I was such a whine-y baby, so I would think that I was my friend even if I didn't really like myself very much. (I love these kinds of questions.)

Do you have a special talent?

I think I'm more sympathetic than most people.  I mean, I just naturally try to understand the person I'm talking to, and it seems to me that most people aren't like that.  Seems like most people have their own opinions and decide whether or not they agree with the person they're talking to.  If anything, my sympathizing is my weakness as well as my strength, because it keeps me from having really firm opinions about things.  And how do you ever make any decisions if you don't have an opinion about what's right or best to do?

What color pants and shoes are you wearing?

My pants are off-white, my shoes are gold.  I bought them at the Goodwill.  They're a funky kind of knit material that makes me feel like I'm almost not wearing shoes (except for the clunky plastic soles that thump around every time I take a step).  Anyway, I bought them as house shoes to keep the carpet cleaner.  There's no way I would wear these out of the house!  And when I have my own house, we are *not* having carpet everywhere. I'd rather freeze my bare feet on cement floors than wear shoes all the time!

What was the last thing you ate?

A homemade burrito: the refried beans were made with pinto bean flour (just ground up dry pinto beans).  No lard, no salt.  Just our favorite seasonings and the joy of eating healthy!

If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

I'd be a "chocolate pudding" crayon.  By itself, the color isn't that appealing.  But calling it chocolate pudding makes it more enticing, even if it does quiver at the slightest touch.

Hair color?

Dark brown with a few strands of gray.

Last movie you watched?

The Bourne Supremacy.  It was quite well done.  Interesting plot, believable and like-able characters.  It was very race-y, and the downside was that it had more than its share of violence, and a light amount of gore.  Very appealing to male-type people who, in addition to the obvious appeal of watching a guy who can beat up 6 people at the same time, also like mysteries and think that having a conscience is a good thing.

What is on your mousepad?

The little finger pad that lets me move my cursor without needing an actual mouse has become so worn that you can almost see my fingerprints on it.

Favorite sound?

A choir singing in close harmony: dissonances resolving to harmonies, expressive crescendoes and diminuendos, etc.  I also really like bluegrass music: fiddles and banjos goin' to town! Yee haw!

Ya'll don't forget to tell me stuff about yourself when you post a comment.

Chocolate and Green

Green issues: Jon and I disagree about global warming. We agree that people should use nonsustainable resources more responsibly, and in general that everyone could do more to decrease their carbon footprint. But whether or not the rhetoric of global warming/climate change is true or not is a matter for debate. Any ideas anyone?

Also this week, we had a very small party for Adara. Some video of the birthday presents and chocolate banana can be seen here:

http://video.google.com /videoplay?docid=-179392600695 1450568

http://video.google.com /videoplay?docid=5765821497435 244088

http://video.google.com /videoplay?docid=-854674839478 4239776

Great Leap Forward

Monica, a mutual friend of Jon's and mine who's studying at Thunderbird, was studying at my apartment today. China, she says, is on the verge of a great leap forward. And so is she.

Another longtime family friend, Lisa, wrote to me today, ostensibly to inspire me to take advantage of my talents and to do something with them. Thus my great leap forward begins with a small decision to take an online proofreading course. It will be a challenge. As if being a young mother and a new wife wasn't enough to handle. I'm learning to cook healthy, balanced meals while researching how to flow naturally into a somewhat regular nap schedule for my one year old, all the while teaching her how to communicate with American Sign Language in the hopes that it will curtail the worst of the temper tantrums. (In our case, I think it has simply sped up the growth process: she's beginning to throw mini-tantrums and refuse to comply with our well-established expectations, like signing "please".) And now I think it will be fun to go back to school (well, online school) and start editing a newspaper! I must be crazy!

In other news, the ASL learning has taken off. Adara has made her own great leap forward and is now able to tell me when she wants me to pick her up (all the time!), whether she would like bread, milk, or a banana, and, most importantly, when she has had enough of whatever we're doing! She probably can use at least 10 signs properly (she'll be one year old next week), and of course can understand more than that. It is very cute to watch her, and rewarding for both of us that we are able to communicate more effectively.

Fully Mobile

One week ago, Adara decided she wanted more mobility. She let go of all of her props and started walking around the room - just like a grown-up! Well, a grown-up that just got off the Triple-Loop Death Screamer roller coaster, that is! On the one hand, it's nice not to have to hold her hand every time she wants to go somewhere. On the other hand, finding her 20-30 feet away from where I left her just a few seconds ago is getting to be a bit disconcerting. Perhaps I'll get used to it. Or maybe I'll buy a fence.

I hope you can watch the videos I've uploaded. Enjoy!

2008 February Newsletter

JON AND MARY WILSON FAMILY NEWSLETTER

March 10, 2008

Happy Spring everyone! I hope this letter finds you all well. I’m writing to you at 1 year, 7 months, and 27 days from the date of my marriage to Jon Robert Wilson.

Some of you may know that I began to feel queasy and tired just a few short weeks after my honeymoon. By the end of August, Jon and I were fairly certain that our new little family had already begun to grow into three. We were a little surprised (though we should not have been) at how quickly it happened! We both wanted a child very much, but the timing was not what we expected.

In November Jon received a letter of acceptance from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. After a quick visit to California to visit Jon's parents for Christmas, we packed and drove to Arizona on New Year's Day. I was a bit anxious about being five months pregnant, away from my family, my husband in school, and between jobs. So while Jon studied, I applied to temp agencies, started setting up a proofreading/editing business, and obsessed over my pregnancy.

Jon was a great help to me during this time. Despite his workload as a new MBA student, he found time to help me think calmly about the pregnancy and my work situation. Finally, on 21 April 2007, Adara Belle Wilson made her grand appearance. Jon and I had enjoyed the day at the Arizona Science Museum before we decided that the things I was feeling were, indeed, full-on labor. We arrived at the hospital one hour before Adara emerged at 11:30 p.m., whole and perfect.

Three days later, Jon had his first final exam.

He had just enough time to bond with Adara before he was off to Costa Rica for an internship with Kimberly-Clark. Adara and I, meanwhile, stayed with various relatives until, at the age of 3 months old, Adara made her first international voyage. In sweet reunion, our family visited the rain forest and white-sand beaches of Manuel Antonio National Park, the chilly heights of the Irizu volcano, and the internationally-acclaimed Monte Verde where we walked on suspension bridges, zipped over the canopy (but not with Adara) on zip lines, and marveled at the sights in the butterfly and frog museums.

Once back in the U.S., I learned that a school friend of mine was terminally ill. Packing my bags for the final time that summer, Adara and I went to Salt Lake for a week for a last goodbye. As I was returning to Phoenix, my friend was taking her final breath.

Back in Phoenix I set my mind on putting my house in order. I had hardly begun the job when Jon announced that the school had a number of scholarships available for anyone with time to write a two-page essay . . . for each scholarship they applied for. Since I, apparently, had more time on my hands than he did, I spent six weeks editing, refining, re-writing, and generally polishing the essays that Jon had written for the scholarships. We ended up winning two of them - which was a great relief to our bank account.

With the essays finished, the holidays were right around the corner. We were planning to visit both my family in Salt Lake and Jon's in California. On the way, we stopped at Mesa Verde National Park to see the ruins of the cliff-dwellers. In Salt Lake, Christmas Eve was classically snow-y. Then it was on to Fresno, where the weather was sunnier, if not warmer.

Laden with toys, we returned to Phoenix with just one day to prepare for Jon's three-week trip to Jordan and Israel. He was part of a team of MBA students and professors who were consulting the government of the kingdom of Jordan regarding their microfinance industry.

While he was gone, Adara was learning to walk. She's 10 months old now and embarking on new adventures. She crawls out the front door toward the playground and hardly stops to look back. We’re doing our best to keep up with her.

We’ll be moving again in June of this year after Jon’s graduation. He has interviewed for three different positions with some companies in the eastern U.S. Our hope is to end up in Louisville, Kentucky, with second choice being either Pittsburg, Pennsylvania or a small town in Tennessee.

Sometimes I wonder if life will ever slow down. It probably won’t. But a brief slowdown has given me a chance to post this blog and hope you all enjoy reading it as much as we've enjoyed living it.

All our love,

Jon, Mary, and Adara Wilson